Blustery conditions cause havoc for weekend's schedule of events

Prep roundup

Posted: Sunday, April 03, 2005

By John Kaltefleiterjohn.kaltefleiter@onlineathens.com

Casey Kane and assistant coach Don Chuboff arrived at Spartan Field at 9 a.m. Saturday in the hopes of having Athens Academy's rain-saturated diamond ready for the Spartans' much-anticipated region game with Jefferson nine hours later.

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By 1 p.m., Athens Academy's coaching tandem had the groomed field ready for play.

But by that time, the near 30-mph winds had taken their toll on the outfield wind screens, ripping most of them from the fence.

At that point, Kane and Chuboff threw up their hands and decided that delaying their game for another two days was the correct course of action.

"Man, Dorothy would have been blown away out there," Kane said in reference to the movie, "The Wizard of Oz".

"The weather's been unbelievable this year. It's really nuts. I don't think it's baseball weather and I would hate for it to play a part in the outcome of a game. He (Jefferson coach Tommy Knight) felt the same way."

The Class A seventh-ranked Spartans and Dragons were supposed to play Friday night. But the game was moved to Saturday night due to the deluge of rain the Athens area received during the latter part of the week.

Fingers crossed, Kane said the two teams will try again Monday night. First pitch is scheduled fort 5 p.m., if the forecast for seasonably warm weather with little chance of precipitation holds.

The Spartans were scheduled to host Oglethorpe County then, but that game will be made up later this year, Kane said. Clarke Central's afternoon doubleheader at Salem was also postponed, and will be made up on May 7.

Baseball wasn't the only sports affected by the strange weather pattern. Thursday's downpour caused the postponement of the 7th annual Ed Hoard Golf Classic at the Athens Country Club.

Whether or not it will be rescheduled remains to be seen.

Some track events, though, went off as planned, like the annual Winder Relays at Winder-Barrow High School.

On the boys side, Dabarie Satterfield fended off the wind in the high jump, posting a leap of 5 feet, 10 inches, which helped the host Bulldoggs finish fourth with 57.5 points.

Winder-Barrow's Tyler Wade, Dominic Berry and Stephen Knight also reeled in points. Wade was third in the discus with a lob of 125-6, while Berry took second in the long jump with a mark of 19-2. Knight was third in the pole vault with a 12-6. Winder-Barrow also grabbed second place in the 4X100-meter relay with a time of 45.17.

Class AAAAA Parkview won the event with 111 points, followed by Flowery Branch (94) and Carver-Atlanta (67.5). Parkview's Andrew Stephenson was the high-point winner, racking up 22.5 team points.

Oconee County snared fifth, thanks in large part to Chris Brown's first-place finish in a wind-aided 100-meter dash. Brown crossed the line in 10.93 seconds, just ahead of Flowery Branch's Josh Lepoch (10.96) and Carver-Atlanta's Satonay Bailey (11.01).

The Warriors' Jordan Scott easily captured first in the pole vault, going 16-0. Daniel Mobley helped Oconee County's cause with a third-place finish in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 17.97. Flowery Branch's Justin Harrell won it with a 16.97.

Josh Stokes secured second for the Warriors in the triple jump, posting a mark of 39-5.

Young took first place in the long jump (16-111/2), the triple jump (33-81/2), and the high jump (5-2).

The Lady Warriors' Aundrielle Graydon was also a first-place finisher, running a 12.46 in the 100-meter dash.

Elbert County's Santrese Matthews was third in the long jump (15-31/4) and third in the 400-meter run (1:02.18), while her teammate, Elisa Aguis, won the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 16.41. Monroe Area's Jasmine Woods won the shot put with a toss of 37-6.

Clarke's Moses shines at Character Games

DECATUR - Clarke Central sprinter Jolesia Moses placed first in the 200-meter dash (26.16) and was second in the 100 meters (12.52) at the prestigious Character Games.

Along with Joanna Walters, Jamecia Cooper and Cherrelle Pullen, Moses was also on the Lady Gladiators' 4X100-meter relay team that barely missed the finals with a time of 50.77.